Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are working to accelerate the creation of an international center for industrial cooperation, called ‘Central Asia’. It will be constructed at the border of the two countries, near the Gulistan checkpoint on the Uzbek side and the Atameken checkpoint on the Kazakh side, the Kazakh Ministry of Trade and Integration has reported.
The Kazakh investor in the project, TCL Group, together with the administration of Kazakhstan’s Turkestan region, plans to begin construction of the Central Asia Center this year.
TCL Group has also signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Uzbek company Global Textile on the center’s first investment project, which will produce finished textile products.
Kazakhstan’s deputy minister for trade and integration, Kairat Torebaev, has commented that the Central Asia Center is expected to start its operations in the fourth quarter of 2026, and the official opening is planned for the first half of 2027.
Mr Torebaev believes the center will help intensify business ties between manufacturers from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, and stimulate the growth of trade turnover between the two countries.
Trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan has grown to over $4.6bn in 2023. The sides aim to bring bilateral trade to $10bn in the coming years.
